Media Roundup: To The Deliberations

The media reports, webbed overnight and today, on the Conrad Black trial are increasing in number now that jury deliberations are imminent:

1. Andrew Clark of the Guardian points out that Eric Sussman's follow-the-money exhortation was explicitly lifted from Deep Throat in All The President's Men. With respect to David Radler, Csr. Sussman acknowledged his bad character but also asked: "'David Radler is not Robin Hood... Why would he be stealing money to pay Conrad Black's mortgage?'" With respect to the oversight approval of the payments, Csr. Sussman called the Audit Committee members 'grossly negligent.'" Returning to an already-established prosecutorial theme, though, Csr Sussman observed, "'But, you know what?... Just because the security guard was asleep, doesn't mean the robbery didn't really happen.'"

2. From Law.com, an analyis of Ron Safer's closing address that mentions the theme of a "Top Ten list" that Csr. Safer himself used.

3. The New York Times has webbed an in-house report, entitled "Jurors Are Expected to Get Conrad Black’s Case Today," which reviews the entire trial, including Csr. Safer's closing argument and the portion of Csr. Sussman's rebuttal heard yesterday. It claims that the jurors will be getting about 100 pages of instructions. (Other sources have claimed 77.)

4. CTV News has webbed a report that begins by noting that Csr. Sussman claimed that "Conrad Black's defence, not the prosecution, has built its case on longtime Black partner David Radler..." In addition to summarizing yesterday's part of Csr. Sussman's rebuttal, it also quotes the version of the ostrich instruction that has been put in the entire set of them: "'If you find the defendant had a strong suspicion that criminal conduct was occurring, yet shut his eyes for fear of what he might learn, you can conclude he acted knowingly, and acting knowingly is a crime.'" The report also has links to three broadbanded CTV News video clips.

5. The trial has made #4 in an Irish (Dublin) Independent list of world news stories. It's entitled "Black could be jailed for life."

6. CANOE Money has webbed a Canadian Press briefing item which relates that the jury instructions will begin when Csr. Sussman is finished. The rest of his rebuttal is expected to take 90 minutes.

7. Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune has written a report that begins by noting: "In its final statement to the jury Tuesday, the government's lead attorney in the fraud trial of Conrad Black made an unexpected admission: 'Our star witness is not David Radler.'" After elaborating on Csr. Sussman's argument, he notes that "[t]he government's apparent about-face on Radler was a bizarre twist in the final days of the case against Black," and quotes Hugh Totten as expressing a similar bafflement. The rest of the report summarizes yesterday's part of the prosecutorial rebuttal.

8. Romina Maurino has written a report on Csr. Sussman's rebuttal, as webbed by the Hamilton Spectator, that begins with: "Government lawyers at the fraud trial of Conrad Black took one last stab at convincing jurors of the former press baron's guilt yesterday morning, reminding them of the prosecutors' contention he's both a liar and thief."

9. The London Free Press has a webbing of Peter Worthington's latest column. Mr. Worthington has included two items mentioned earlier by Mark Steyn: an objection by Csr. Sussman during the end of Csr. Safer's closing argument that blew up in his face, and the prosecutor's soft-spoken start. The column itself concentrates upon Csr. Safer's argument.

10. Paul Waldie has written a brief report, as webbed by the Globe and Mail, on the deliberation process for the jurors: each of them has to fill out a thirty-page form with tick boxes. They "must check off a box marked 'guilty' or 'not guilty' for each charge for each defendant." It ends by noting that they will have access to documents filed as evidence, but not testimony transcripts, "in part because throughout the trial, the judge met privately with lawyers during so-called side bars and those discussions, which are recorded, would have to be removed."

11. Mr. Waldie has another, longer report, also webbed by the Globe, which carries the calls of four lawyers who've been watching the trial: Steve Skurka, Andrew Stoltmann, Terry Sullivan and Hugh Totten. The reasons for each watcher's call is explained in the article, but here are the calls: Csr. Skurka - not guilty; Csr. Stoltmann - guilty on central charges; Csr. Sullivan - likely to be found not guilty; Csr. Totten - guilty on 2 charges, one of the fraud counts and the obstruction-of-justice charge.

12. CTV NewsNet aired a report from David Akin at 8:31 AM ET. In it, he said that the final part of the trial has gone longer than anticipated. Eric Sussman had just arrived at the time of the airing. He gets ribbed a lot, including sometimes by Judge St. Eve, because he looks a lot younger than he is. Mr. Akin described his rebuttal as “very dramatic.”

Regarding the instructions: there are 90 of them, all scripted. As a generality, they urge jurors to rely upon their common sense and their own memories. As far as the length of deliberation time is concerned, the general rule of thumb is one sitting day per week of a trial. This jury, though, is indicating that they’ll take a shorter time than that. As an example, Mr. Akin cited a request to sit for only a half-day this coming Friday. It would have been consistent with a long deliberation for them to ask to sit all day Friday. The jurors decide when they sit in deliberation, and for how long.

13. A third report by Mr. Waldie, webbed by the Globe as well, sums up Csr. Sussman's rebuttal. It notes that yesterday's part of the rebuttal took about four hours, and that the jurors are mostly "middle-aged women." It also notes that Csr. Sussman "tried to shore up the credibility of [the] members of the audit committee of Hollinger's board" during his rebuttal.

14. The latest report by Janet Whitman of the New York Post is entitled "Black's Jury Gets Anxious To Close." After noting that three jurors wanted to stay late yesterday, an item mentioned yesterday by Mr. Steyn, it notes further that "[j]urors' growing impatience with the sluggish pace of closing arguments by prosecutors and lawyers for Black and his three co-defendants could be a sign they will return with a speedy verdict."

15. Rosie DiManno's latest report, webbed by the Toronto Star, begins by noting that Csr. Sussman's rebuttal had gotten twenty-four objections, with only one sustained. She casts the prosecutor as a dutiful speechmaker dogged by sometime frivolous objections.

16. CBC Newsworld aired a report from Heather Hiscox at 9:07 AM ET. She said that it's almost a certainty that the jury will begin deliberating today. The instructions to the jury have been placed online. They go into reasonable doubt, saying that it is the jurors’ responsibility to assess. The instruction list also stresses that the defendants have the right not to testify. Mr. Radler’s testimony is also addressed: there's a reminder of his plea bargain, and the relevant instruction notes that it's not directly relevant to the defendants’ guilt. The jury must assess his testimony on its merits. Ms. Hiscox also mentioned the ostrich instruction, and said that Judge St. Eve should start this morning. Her report also contained a brief interview with Eddie Greenspan, who mentions that the Canadian system does not have prosecutor’s rebuttal.

17. Also aired on CBC Newsworld, at 9:20 AM ET, was an interview with Paul Waldie. He said that he was surprised at the length of the rebuttal, noting that it seems that the prosecution has to undo a lot of damage. Also surprising was the prosecution distancing itself from Mr. Radler’s testimony. In addition, Mr. Waldie related the general use of the ostrich instruction, and how it’s used in white-collar-crime cases. It was used successfully in Enron and WorldCom cases. The instruction about the Radler plea bargain was standard, but the defense has made a big point of it. Regarding the economic-status-irrelevant part of the no-discrimination instruction: it is standard, but the jury was vetted for economic or title bias at the trial’s beginning.

As far as the trial itself is concerned, Mr. Waldie was surprised at the amount of strategizing that’s been part of it. He was also impressed at the openness of the trial process in the United States.

18. Mike Hornbrook was also interviewed on CBC Newsworld, as of about 9:35 AM. He called attention to an instruction that may hurt Conrad Black: retroactive approval of transactions by an oversight body is okay, but there must be full disclosure of all relevant facts to make it legitimate.

19. From Iafrica.com Business, a summation of the case, entitled "Lord Black's fate handed to jury."

20. Another CTV News report, entitled "Jurors expected to take Black's case today," has a link to a PDF copy of the instructions to the jury. [Direct link here.]

21. A brief report from the Daily Mail has as its centerpiece a photo of Conrad Black with Barbara, and his daughter Alana standing behind both.

22. An AHN News report suns up the arguments of the prosecution and defense.

23. From CBC News, a report that starts off by anticipating the instructions. It also summarizes the rebuttal so far.

24. The Guelph Mercury summarizes yesterday's part of the rebuttal by focusing on the follow-the-money theme.

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In a brief entry in his Maclean's Conrad Black Trial blog, Mark Steyn cheerily observes that the jury will begin deliberating today, unless they don't.